Continuing on...Prashanth asked us to lunch on Good Friday. He took us to a restaurant called MTR that was, he said, an "old-fashioned, typical Bangalore restaurant." Turns out that this place was actually a relatively-newly-opened clone of an old restaurant that still had the same ambiance.

We walked in right at the time they were switching from breakfast to lunch. It turns out that they have a fixed menu. They give you a big stainless steel plate with high sides and a few extra small bowls. Diversion: I just asked Shyam; this plate is called a "thalli". However, the original Thalli is more North Indian and does not have high sides. That's because N. I. food is usually served with rice that you put the sauce on. In that case, the food stays together more and does not run around. Thus the N.I. thallis are more flat. S. Indian food traditionally has more bread, less rice, so the sauces run around. Traditionally it is served on leaves (big banana leaves or something similar...I've had that a few times) and the leaf curls enough that the curry does not run off. However, thallis are a relatively new import to the S, but because of the food types, they must have taller sides.

Anyway, we got these high sided plates and then a parade of people started coming out of the kitchen with bowls of items that they ladelled onto the plates. They were solid enough that they stayed in discrete locations for the most part. All I can say is that there were many delicious things. I can't remember a single thing except for the bread. At first they came RUNNING out of the kitchen with a big plate of puris and literally ran around distributing them while they were still hot. Puri is a bread that is rolled out very thin and then cooked fast in very hot oil. I suppose it must be made of two pieces of dough because when it is cooked, it expands into a pillow of crisp bread. Think of something about the size of a normal slice of bread, but blown up tight so that its thickness is probably 3 or 4 inches. Maybe a bit like fried dough but smaller and more delicate. They also brought out chapatis (bread baked fast on a hot gridle) and Nan (flat bread baked in an oven). Eventually the frantically running waiters stopped; Richard had counted something in the 20s of different dishes that we had had including some traditional Indian sweets as well as ice cream. Wow! It was a lot of fun, and delicious.

Saturday, we took the now-traditional trip to Mysore. I say it that way because I have now been 3 times. Ellen and I went in 2006, I went alone last year, and finally this year with Lenny and Richard. Last year I saw a few new things, including the Ranganthittu bird sanctuary, and the Brindavan Garden. This year, though, nothing new. It was still kind of fun to go with a different driver, and with Richard and Lenny, though. Our driver this year, Satya, is quite funny in some ways. His English is a bit better than Manju's from last year. Like Manju he is no tour guide. Prashanth told him where to take us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and what sites to see. We managed to get to breakfast ok. It was a place called Kamat Lokaruchi and was VERY Indian. Including almost no English. We went in and found there were no tables, but they led us to a table outside under the trees. There are a bunch of these around. I guess where the upper crust congregate. In any case we were asked (we assume) what we wanted. I said "what do you offer?" A lot of things were said, but one that he clearly said was idly, and another was dosa, although there was another word with idly that I did not know. Richard and I took the idly, Lenny took the dosa. Both were just delicious. Idly is hard to describe; in the form that I know it is a disk 3 or 4 inches across made from some sort of fine rice and cooked by steaming. Think of a dumpling, but much lighter. The one we got was steamed inside a rolled-up leaf, so it was cylindrical. A dosa is a rice-based batter cooked on a griddle so you end up with a very thin, crisp pancake-like item. In both cases you get sauces of various type to dip them into. We also got some vada, which are very much like donuts, except (1) not sweet and (2) often with peppers or some other spicy herbs. These were the best I have ever had; absolutely crisp and delicious. The entire things for 3 people, cost Rs. 150, that is about $3.00. Amazing.
We got on our way again, and it was not long before we realized that Satya was a bit unhappy. It turns out that he had missed the turn to the bird sanctuary and we had to go back 5 or 10 km. That was ok. We found the sanctuary, walked through it as I had last year, and took the same boat ride as last year. We were early so it was very un-crowded. Pretty nice. Next stop: Tippu Sulton's summer palace. Oops. We were in the right town of Srirangaputnam, but only managed to find the dungeons were Tippu had tortured British officers. An ever-present guide attached himself to us and gave us Rs100 worth of lecture about the gruesome treatment that Tippu meted out. Finnally made the summer palace. I don't think I would choose to go there again, at least for myself. The palace has been turned into a museum with lots of faded paintings, the grounds are ok but not exciting.

But it gets better: Our next stop was the Mysore Palace. Now this is one imposing thing. They gardens are huge and the palace itself wildly ornate and huge to scale with the grounds. We made the same decision I made last year (I think...I have not re-read my blog yet) which was not to go into the palace itself. Besides having huge lines, you had to check your camera. We spent our time walking around the garden. At one point we were looking at a Hindu temple on the grounds when we were approached by 2 uniformed men, one on a motorbike. They wanted to see our tickets. Ok. But they they started talking us up. Where are you from, what are you doing, etc. Richard, perhaps unwisely let drop that he wanted to ride an elephant. Ah, you can do that, says the guy on the bike. Hop on! I was pretty shocked that Richard was willing to do that, and before we could protest much, he was on the back of the motorbike and heading off to parts unknown. I and I think Lenny were pretty unhappy about this turn of affairs and asked the guy on foot where they were going. "No problem. I take you to them." At that point we figured we'd better stick together, so we walked with the 2nd guy in the direction that the motorbike went. On the way he started telling us that we should give him some money so that he could give it to the elephant wallahs. (At this point we had not even seen an elephant). We basically said, "No way". He kept pushing and eventually I said, "Are you police or army?" He said police. I said "I can't believe that a policeman would need to spend his time transfering money from tourists to elephant wallahs". That seemed to end that conversation. (In fact, we now beleive that these guys were private security guards for the palace). We actually did reach a corner of the palace yard where the elephants that sometimes give rides are "stored". Richard had, in fact, been given the opportunity to get on the elephant's neck (no howda, or basket on the top to sit in) and the wallahs had taken some pictures for him. After much exchange of cash, We headed back with the "police" following along trying to pick up some more money. "Tourists are not allowed where we took you". I think Richard gave them a few Rs. In any case they next wanted to see our tickets again. "But you already saw them!" Turns out they wanted to TAKE them. We said no way quite strenuously. "Someone else might want to see them." "WE are the ones who look at them." Etc. Finally we just point blank refused and they went away. Ooaree way out, it turns out that the folks at the door DID need the tickets back. I don't know what would have happened if we had given them away.

Excitement galore!